Broad and Efficient Control of Major Foodborne Pathogenic Strains Of
Broad and efficient control of major foodborne PNAS PLUS pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli by mixtures of plant-produced colicins Steve Schulza,1, Anett Stephana,1, Simone Hahna,1, Luisa Bortesia,2, Franziska Jarczowskib, Ulrike Bettmannb, Anne-Katrin Paschkeb, Daniel Tuséc, Chad H. Stahld, Anatoli Giritcha,3, and Yuri Glebaa aNomad Bioscience GmbH, Biozentrum Halle, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany; bIcon Genetics GmbH, Biozentrum Halle, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany; cDT/Consulting Group, Sacramento, CA 95818; and dDepartment of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 Edited by Charles J. Arntzen, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and approved August 7, 2015 (received for review July 7, 2015) Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is one of the leading involve heating or organic acids, which can adversely modify the causes of bacterial enteric infections worldwide, causing ∼100,000 taste and quality of the products. Currently approved bacteriophage illnesses, 3,000 hospitalizations, and 90 deaths annually in the United mixtures enable narrow and specific control of O157:H7 but not of States alone. These illnesses have been linked to consumption of other pathogenic strains (4). Use of traditional antibiotics for the contaminated animal products and vegetables. Currently, other than treatment of food is not appropriate and should be considered thermal inactivation, there are no effective methods to eliminate unacceptable, particularly due to the increase of antibiotic re- pathogenic bacteria in food. Colicins are nonantibiotic antimicrobial sistance seen among E. coli strains found in food (5). Among proteins, produced by E. coli strains that kill or inhibit the growth of nonantibiotic antibacterials, several colicins have been shown to be other E.
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